Plexiglass, light switches, LEDs, vinyl tubing, microcontroller
ITP Winter Show, 2010; World Maker Faire, 2011
ByteLight is an interactive light sculpture that represents a giant LCD pixel and the binary data that informs its color value.
OVERVIEW
Although computers are ubiquitous to modern society, few people understand how they work. ByteLight aims to take one of the simplest aspects of a computer, a pixel, and by augmenting the resolution of bit data to individual light switches, it allows users to interact with it to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the type of data that informs the color of a pixel.
ByteLight is a large light fixture that represents an LCD pixel, with three light stripes (red, green and blue). It is composed of a box of 24 switches – eight of which correspond to the binary data of red, green, and blue brightness values, between 0 and 255. By manipulating the switches, the full color spectrum of the 24-bit color scheme (16,777,216 total) can be represented by the ambient light on the white surface of the installation.
See our work progress here
PRESS
Core77, Design Magazine and Resource
A New Days Work, January 24, 2010
LINKS
Jack Kalish
Bytelight footage from the ITP Winter Show, by Nisma Z. and Arturo Vidich
A visualization over time of ByteLight's colors:
ITP Winter Show, 2010; World Maker Faire, 2011
ByteLight is an interactive light sculpture that represents a giant LCD pixel and the binary data that informs its color value.
OVERVIEW
Although computers are ubiquitous to modern society, few people understand how they work. ByteLight aims to take one of the simplest aspects of a computer, a pixel, and by augmenting the resolution of bit data to individual light switches, it allows users to interact with it to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the type of data that informs the color of a pixel.
ByteLight is a large light fixture that represents an LCD pixel, with three light stripes (red, green and blue). It is composed of a box of 24 switches – eight of which correspond to the binary data of red, green, and blue brightness values, between 0 and 255. By manipulating the switches, the full color spectrum of the 24-bit color scheme (16,777,216 total) can be represented by the ambient light on the white surface of the installation.
See our work progress here
PRESS
Core77, Design Magazine and Resource
A New Days Work, January 24, 2010
LINKS
Jack Kalish
Bytelight footage from the ITP Winter Show, by Nisma Z. and Arturo Vidich
A visualization over time of ByteLight's colors: